THE US POLAR ROCK REPOSITORY: PRESERVING TERRESTRIAL GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS AND METADATA FROM POLAR REGIONS

The United States Polar Rock Repository at Ohio State University is a national facility designed for the curatorial preservation and lending of rock samples from Polar Regions, along with associated materials such as field notes, annotated air photos and maps, raw analytic data, paleomagnetic cores, ground rock and mineral residues, thin sections, and microfossil mounts, microslides and residues. The facility was established by the Office of Polar Programs at the National Science Foundation (NSF) to minimize redundant sample collecting, and also because the extreme cold and hazardous field conditions make field-work costly and difficult. Preservation of specimens from remote and rarely visited locations is a priority at the USPRR. The USPRR facility is unique in that terrestrial rock samples may easily be borrowed and/or analyzed for research, exhibit or educational purposes.

Currently, the USPRR has more than 17000 cataloged rock samples available to scientists from around the world. The sample collection includes rock samples, unconsolidated material, dredges and terrestrial cores. All cataloged samples are relabeled with a USPRR number, weighed, photographed and measured for magnetic susceptibility (if possible) and the metadata entered into a commercial, museum based database called EMu.

Researchers may access the sample collection through the online website (http://www-bprc.mps.ohio-state.edu/emuwebusprr). Many aspects of the sample metadata are included on the website, e.g. geographical location, sample description, collector, rock age, formation, multimedia images as well structural data, field observations, logistics, surface features, etc. The repository and on-line database provide an essential resource for proposal preparation, pilot studies and other sample based research that should make fieldwork more efficient. This latter aspect should reduce the environmental impact of conducting research in sensitive Polar Regions.